I am back home (finally) damage minimal ($20,000 total expense tops). Above ground (2 mo. old) pool took a pin oak tree in the stomach, Doghouse missed by a pin oak by 19 inches, small hole in the roof, house missed by all of the 31 trees that fell, $7400 for tree removal, $3700 for 15KW generator, $3000 motel & food, $Zillion on gasoline for two cars, & mother-in-law still does not know we had a hurricane!! (vbg) WORST part.... I'm now on a DIAL-UP 36K connection (mad)

Our Evacuation Tale….

Rita was a weakling wandering across the Gulf of Mexico but she would soon become infuriated and strong, a force to be reckoned with. As se hit the warm gulf waters she built strength rapidly and demanded attention especially when she put our town in her sights. Katrina had already made us believers of the wrath she would wield just weeks before in New Orleans.

People near the coast and in low-lying areas were the first to act by boarding up windows and packing to leave. Rita began to flex her muscles a little as she went from a level 3 to a level 4 hurricane. With her added strength people were becoming like the mouse with eyes fixed on a snake and wondering if they should spring or hold tight and out guess the snake knowing the wrong move would be disastrous.

When the announcement came Rita was now a level 5 with surface winds hitting 235 mph there was no more doubt, it was time to run. Lumberton is 56 feet above sea level and 46 miles inland so tidal surge was not a problem but the winds would and make the trees fall like dominoes. Roofs and power were going to be gone for a while after this one!

It’s funny what one thinks is important when time and space are critically limited. One person grabs three pair of clean underwear and a $100 bill and is ready to hit the door while another packs all the photo albums, cosmetics, and various other things as if they were going on vacation for a month or two.

My father had opted to ride out the storm with us and cancelled reservations he had made in Woodville and now was again trying to find refuge. We had five people to evacuate, and then my sister-in-law called and said she was joining us and would be there shortly. “Shortly,” turned out to be a lengthy traverse from Vidor to Lumberton with the car over heating. Once she arrived she seemed to have packed up the whole farm in her car and had a friend following behind with a truck loaded with the rest, this all wound up in my living room except the pet snake. I drew the line on the snake. No way in hell was a huge snake of any kind going to be in my house. Then there was the pissing pit bull that hiked his leg on everything possible so he came under constant visual. With 4 more people it was now impossible to use one car, especially one that was overheating. We loaded my sister-in-law’s “essentials” into my wife’s car, pissing dog and all. At least this way we would get to where ever it was we were heading to, but who wants to take in nine people and three dogs, with one of them a real pisser!

The roads were fast becoming congested and slowing to a crawl, the northern routes were converted to countra-flow and people were adding yet two more lanes, the shoulders! It didn’t speed up a thing; it only helped to fuel the road rage. As soon as these people would pass you by they would then be looking for a place to cut back into the main flow of traffic and slowing it down. The trip from Lumberton to Dallas took 22 hours; at least the car was comfortable and cool.

Believing we could avoid the main flow of people we broke out of the evacuation route looking for accommodations in smaller towns but no such luck. In Tyler I phoned my son in Dallas to begin searching through the yellow pages for rooms. He found 3 rooms in a Motel 6 in one of Dallas’ exclusive areas! It was a nice place too not the dive a cheap place brings to mind. Once we arrived Ryanne cut her toe and bled all over the walkway in front of my sister-in-law’s room. Someone saw the blood and called the front desk, they called the room but there was no answer. Remember the 22-hour drive? Everyone was sound asleep; next the Dallas Police were beating down the door! You remember the old saying, “There’s no rest for the weary?” This was refuge for a few days until we would move again and again. We finally wound up in a huge 6,000 square foot house in Conroe that my wife’s uncle had moved from into a much smaller place and most of the furniture had not been moved of the utilities turned off, we even had cable!

Once settled we commuted to Lumberton taking pictures of our properties and friends to post on the Internet so they could access. I found others descriptions wildly inaccurate, and they say a picture is worth a thousand words.

With my wife soon to report to work in the FEMA designated emergency room in Beaumont we fast had to make arrangements to stay. I bit the bullet and bought a generator believing that the lack electrical service would be lengthy and with an aged mother-in-law air conditioning was no question. We had to have it. We acquired one that would run the whole house with the central air. Only problem was after they loaded it with a forklift in Houston I would need a front-end loader to get it out. It weighed a mere 600 pounds, a bit hefty for Gail and I to handle. Fortunately, while we were perplexing about how to accomplish this feat my neighbor comes riding up on his tractor with a front-end loader. What amazing timing!